Wednesday, February 25, 2026

Wednesday's parting corner shot

If you've walked by the SW corner of St. Mark's Place and Second Avenue in the past week, you likely noticed that the sidewalk work wrapped up... (which we meant to note last week — photo below from Thursday night).
Not sure exactly what the crew was doing here in recent months, other than replacing the sidewalk outside and around Poetica Coffee and Paul's... work that dragged on and made it challenging to enter the businesses. 

Backing up a bit... last July, workers demolished the building extension on the St. Mark's side. (New owners bought the three buildings on this SW corner in 2024.) 

The longtime vendors here left earlier in 2025. For decades, vendors sold items such as sunglasses, floppy hats, wigs, umbrellas, and novelty holiday merchandise from outside the corner mainstay Gem Spa. (These items are still available outside Funky Town, mid-block, and at the kiosks closer to Third Avenue.) 

Before the vendors, the wall housed a bank of payphones — a location for New York Dolls photo shoots, among other phone-related activities.
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5 comments:

  1. tomFebruary 25, 2026 at 9:57 PM

    This corner doesn’t look historic/iconic like when Gem Spa was here. Whenever someone saw Gem Spa they knew exactly where they were.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jose GarciaFebruary 26, 2026 at 8:17 AM

    I walked by recently and noticed that someone(s) managed to carve "Gem Spa" into the concrete before it dried which made me smile.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. PJFebruary 26, 2026 at 12:33 PM

      "Who was this 'Bart' and how was he able to carve his name in solid concrete?". Bwahahah!

      Delete
  3. AnnieFebruary 26, 2026 at 10:09 AM

    I miss the sidewalk vendors! Gave some spice to St. Mark's.

    ReplyDelete

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